Life-preserver.



G. KRIQEGER & W. K. TALLMAN.

I LIFE PRESERVER. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 5, 1908.

Patented July 20, 1909.

WITNESSES BY v a ITTORNEY unirnn srArEs PATENT OFFICE.

GUSTAVE KRIEGER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, AND WILLIAM K. TALLMAN, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNORS TO KRIEGER SHOE COMPANY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK,

A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GUs'rAvn Knrnenn and /VILLTAM K. TALLMAN, respectively of Brooklyn, county of Kings, State of New York, and Jersey City, county of Hudson,

State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Life-Preservers, of which the following is a full,

clear, and exact specification, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention relates to those life preservers which. are adapted to encircle the neck of the wearer and are constructed of rubber and adapted to be inflated with air.

Heretofore diiiiculty has been experienced in the construction of such life preservers owing to the tendency of the life preserver to float above the shoulders and thereby fail to sustain the wearer sufficiently high'in the water.

The object of our invention is to avoid this diflieulty without, however, rendering the life 'n-eserver open to another objection, that to say, the objection of lying around the waist and. under the arms of the wearer thus not only hindering the movements of the wearer but placing the center of buoyancy too low and endangering an inexperienced person toppling over.

To this end, the invention involves certain peculiar features of construction and arrangement of parts which will be fully set forth hereinafter and particularly polnted out in the claim.

Reference is had to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, for example, one manner of embodying the various features of our invention, in which drawings,

Figure 1 represents the device in use; Fig. 2 an enlarged inverted plan view; Fig. 3 a section on the line 33 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 a section on the line M of Fig. 2.

The life preserveris here shown as a continuous structure adapted to be dropped down over the head and around the neck of the wearer. it may, however, without departing from our invention be divided at the front in the nature of a collar and so that it may be opened and moved horizontally into position. We also prefer to construct the life preservor of rubber but this material is Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 5, 1908.

LIFE-PRESERVER.

Patented July 20, 1909.

Serial N0. 447,121.

not absolutely essential and other material may be resorted to at will.

The device comprises two rubber bags 64 and (4 preferably slightly curved as shown and round in cross section and adapted to he one at the back and one at the front of the wearer in the -manner shown in Fig. 1. These bags are adapted to be inflated and the bag a at the front is provided'with a nipple and valve 5 of the usual construction which enables the bags to be inflated by the wearer after the life preserver is in position. The two bags at and a are connected by stout rubber bands 0. These bands are made of one integral piece with the rubber of the bags and adapted to lie flat over the shoulders of the wearer as shown. In order that the rear bag a may be inflated through the medium of the front bag the stout bands 0 are constructed to embody air ducts (Z formed of two thicknesses of rubber integral with the bands as best shown in Fig. 3. In this manner air blown into the forward bag will find its way through the ducts into and tilling the rear bag as well as the forward bag.

On their under sides the bags a and a. are provided with tape guides e and through these guides one or more tapes f are rove. The drawings illustrate one tape and this is preferable, though two may be employed. In the use of the device this tape is passed under the arm pits of the wearer and is tied in a knot at the front, thus drawing the bands 6 down snugly on the shoulders and to some extent holding down the bags a. In order, however, to insure that the bags remain in this downward adjustment against the pressure of the water, we provide two tapes 9 one applied to the rear bag and one to the front bag. These tapes are brought downward at the backand front and are joined to a belt tape h which is tied in a knot at the front of the wearer. The result of this construction is that the bands 0 lying on the shoulders serve to connect the bags while the whole of the buoyancy of the life preserver lies in the bags which by the band construction described are made susceptible of being drawn down well below the neck and over the breast and back of the wearer, lowering the center of buoyancy sufficiently to insure that the wearer floats with his mil:

shoulders level with or above the water but keeping this center of buoyancy so high that the capsizing or toppling over of the wearer in the water, no matter how inexperienced the wearer may be, is impossible.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A life preserver having two impervious bags adapted to be inflated and arranged to lie respectively on the back and breast of the wearer, two flat bands connecting the bags at their ends and adapted to lie respectively over the shoulders of the wearer, one or both of the bands embodying an air duct establishing communication between the two bags, a strap connected to both bags and'adapted to pass under the arm pits of the wearer, two additional. straps respectively connected to the bags and extending downward therefrom at the back and front, and a belt strap adapted to encircle the waist of the wearer and having the said two additional straps joined thereto, whereby the bags are drawn down well below the neck of the wearer.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GUSTAVE KRIEGER. WILLIAM K. TALLMAN.

VVit-nesses ALFRED BAILEY, C. D. HoMMEL. 

